Artist Blog
Every week an artist whose single image was published by Der Greif is given a platform in which to blog about contemporary photography.
Darin Mickey – Stuff I Gotta Remember Not To Forget
Jul 19, 2018 - Andre Viking
Family as Subject (1/3)
Continuing on the topic from my Artist Feature I would like to introduce you to the work of 3 photographers who have worked on series about their families and the relationships within. With 3 different approaches I like these series for being truly personal. Still they are told in a way for us to relate. First up is Darin Mickey’s Stuff I Gotta Remember Not To Forget published by J&L Books. If you collect photobooks this one deserves a spot on your bookshelf.
”In 2001, Darin Mickey began to document his father’s life at work and at home. Stuff I Gotta Remember Not To Forget is a portrait of Ken Mickey, who sells storage space in converted caves and abandoned mines throughout Kansas. We follow Darin following his father as he makes cold calls, watches television, attends meetings at the Masonic Temple, drives through underground tunnels, and drinks his scotch on the rocks. Mickey’s pictures deftly depict the feelings an adult has toward his parents; an unfamiliarity with the familiar, and the vying feelings of attraction and rejection toward where one comes from. The title – taken from a Ziggy bulletin board – implies both the ambivalence and urgency of what family means once one leaves the fold. As much a memoir of Mickey’s family life as a portrait of a salesman, Stuff I Gotta Remember Not To Forget is a document of the suburban midwest, in turns honest, ridiculous and tender. ”